Mental Health Services Protection Amendment Act, 2025 (Unproclaimed Sections Only)

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES PROTECTION AMENDMENT ACT, 2025 Chapter 12 HIS MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, enacts as follows: Amends SA 2018 cM‑13.2 1 The Mental Health Services Protection Act is amended by this Act. 2 Section 1 is amended (a) by adding the following after clause (h): (h.1) “prescribed” means, unless the context indicates otherwise, prescribed by the regulations; (b) by repealing clauses (k), (l) and (m) and substituting the following: (k) “service” means a prescribed service that is treatment or other care with the objective of maintaining or improving the mental health and well‑being of an individual, including treatment or other care for a mental disorder or an addiction; (l) “service provider”, in respect of a service, means a person who, whether directly or through an employee, offers or provides the service but does not include a regulated member or unregulated individual who offers or provides the service in the individual’s capacity as an employee of the person; 3 Section 2(1) is amended by striking out “or a member of a class of service providers”. 4 Section 3 is repealed. 5 Section 4(2) is amended by striking out “, without limitation,”. 6 Section 5(1) is repealed and the following is substituted: Licence required 5 (1) This section applies only to a service provider prescribed as requiring a licence to offer or provide a service. 7 Section 6(4)(c) is amended by striking out “reason prescribed by the regulations” and substituting “prescribed reason”. 8 The following is added after section 11: Protected Terms Protected terms for facilities 11.1 (1) In this section, “treatment or other care” means treatment or other care that has the objective of maintaining or improving the mental health and well-being of an individual and includes a service. (2) Except as authorized by the regulations, a person who owns or operates a facility in which treatment or other care is offered or provided must not (a) use a prescribed term in the title of the facility, or (b) use a prescribed term to describe the facility. 9 Section 19 is amended (a) by repealing subsection (1) and substituting the following: Appeal 19 (1) A person may, in accordance with subsection (1.1), appeal any of the following decisions: (a) a decision to refuse to issue, amend or renew a licence under section 6; (b) a decision to impose terms or conditions on a licence under section 6; (c) a decision to amend, suspend or cancel a licence under section 9(1)(a); (d) a decision to issue an order under section 16; (e) a decision to give a notice of administrative penalty under section 18; (f) a prescribed decision. (1.1) A person may appeal a decision referred to in subsection (1) by serving the Minister with a notice of appeal, in the form approved by the Minister, within 15 days after being notified in writing of the decision. (b) in subsection (6) by striking out “prescribed” and substituting “set”. 10 The heading preceding section 22 is repealed and the following is substituted: Part 3 General Provisions 11 The following is added after section 23: Ministerial standards 23.1 (1) The Minister may, in accordance with the regulations, if any, establish or amend, in writing, a standard that sets out requirements that apply to the offering or providing of a service. (2) As soon as practicable after establishing or amending a standard under subsection (1), the Minister must make the standard or amendment publicly available on the website of the Minister’s department. 13 Section 27 is amended (a) in subsection (1) (i) by repealing clause (b) and substituting the following: (b) respecting service providers, including regulations (i) prescribing service providers who require a licence, (ii) establishing classes of service providers and providing differently for those classes, and (iii) specifying requirements that apply to a service provider in respect of providing a service; (ii) by repealing clause (e) and substituting the following: (e) respecting services, including regulations (i) prescribing a service for the purpose of section 1(k), (ii) prohibiting the offering or providing of a service, (iii) establishing classes of services and providing differently for those classes, and (iv) establishing subclasses of a class of service and providing differently for those subclasses; (iii) by repealing clause (h); (iv) by adding the following after clause (i): (i.1) prescribing terms for the purpose of section 11.1; (i.2) respecting the use of prescribed terms by an owner or operator of a facility; (v) in clause (j) (A) by striking out “, without limitation,”; (B) by striking out “and” at the end of subclause (vii), repealing subclause (viii) and substituting the following: (viii) refusals to issue licences, amendments or renewals, and (ix) criteria that may or must be considered when issuing, amending or renewing or refusing to issue, amend or renew a licence; (vi) by adding the following after clause (n): (n.1) establishing a registry for the purpose of registering service providers; (n.2) respecting a registry established under clause (n.1), including regulations (i) prescribing service providers who are required to register with a registry, (ii) prescribing the types of information that must be held in a registry, (iii) respecting the provision of a service by a service provider who is required to register with a registry, including specifying requirements that apply to the provision of that service, (iv) respecting an application for registration, amendment or renewal, (v) respecting the terms or conditions to which a registration may be subject, (vi) respecting the issuance, amendment or renewal of a registration or the amendment of a term or condition of a registration, (vii) respecting the persons required, eligible or ineligible to apply, (viii) respecting the types of registration that may be issued, (ix) respecting a suspension or cancellation of a registration, (x) respecting a refusal to issue a registration, amendment or renewal, and (xi) respecting criteria that may or must be considered when issuing, amending or renewing or refusing to issue, amend or renew a registration; (vii) in clause (s) by adding “, including prescribing a decision that can be appealed under section 19(1)(f)” after “appeals”; (viii) by adding the following after clause (u): (u.1) respecting the establishment and amendment of standards under section 23.1; (b) by repealing subsection (2) and substituting the following: (2) A regulation under subsection (1) may adopt or incorporate, in whole or in part or with modifications, a code, standard or body of rules, including any standard established by the Minister under section 23.1, that relates to any matter in respect of which a regulation may be made under subsection (1). (2.1) A code, standard or body of rules may be adopted or incorporated under subsection (2) as it reads on a specific date or as amended from time to time. 14 Section 28 is repealed and the following is substituted: Transitional regulations 28 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations respecting transitional matters relating to the coming into force of the Mental Health Services Protection Amendment Act, 2025 . (2) A regulation made under subsection (1) is repealed on the earliest of the following: (a) the coming into force of a regulation that repeals the regulation made under subsection (1); (b) the expiration of 3 years from the day that the regulation made under subsection (1) comes into force. (3) The repeal of a regulation under subsection (2) does not affect anything done, incurred or acquired under the authority of the regulation before the repeal of the regulation. (4) This section is repealed 3 years after this section comes into force, but the repeal does not affect anything done, incurred or acquired under the authority of a regulation made under subsection (1) before the repeal of this section. 15 The Schedule is repealed. 16 This Act comes into force on Proclamation.